Purpose: To Serve Man

According to Pangloss, Candide's tutor, everything has a purpose: "He proved incontestably that there is no effect without a cause ... 'It is proved', he used to say, 'that things can not be other than what they are for since everything was made for a purpose , it follows that everything is made for the best purpose" (p.20). What follows are some absurd examples of why everything has a purpose. All the examples he gives serve men in some way:

"legs are clearly intended for breeches, so we wear them. Stones were made for carving and building houses, and that is why my lord has the most beautiful house ... And since pigs were made to be eaten, we eat pork all year round" (p.20).

I've come up with a conclusion: Humans are always trying to prove they are the better than other living things. Let's face it. We're proud of being the "dominant" species. We're proud we can talk, uses tools, feel, have a soul. We actually use all these traits to convince ourselves that we're better. Animals haven't evolved as we have. They aren't civilized, they haven't built empires, ruled countries, advanced in technology, therefore, we're superior.

This cocky feeling we have, leads us to believe everything was made to serve us. If everything was made for us, then I guess we can't feel guilty for ruining everything. After all, it's all ours isn't it?

"What If God Were Innocent?"

When faced with pain, the first thing we do is find who to blame. People and superior beings are the most common targets. Sometimes it's easier to blame some sort of God because we can accuse it of anything and everything, and that God can't defend himself back. There are many times we simply don't understand why things happen. They catch us unprepared to handle a tough situation.

"Why, God? Why did this happen to me if I'm a good person?", some ask. We usually don't find an answer. This makes dealing with pain even harder.

Yesterday we had the pleasure to meet the Sri Lankan poet, Indran Amithanayagam. He read a poem from his book, "The Splintered Face: Tsunami Poems". Not only did he recite beautifully, an excerpt from his poem kept floating in my head for the rest of the day:

"but what if the ocean /were innocent, /the plate tectonics, /innocent, what if God/were innocent?" (Amithanayagam).

Listening to this made me shiver because, if the ocean, the plate tectonics and God are all innocent, then who's there to blame? I'm tired of listening to people saying, "God knows what he's doing", or, "everything happens for a reason". The first answer I find not aggravating comes from Epictetus' The Handbook. In the thirty-first section he mentions: "For in this way you will never blame the gods or accuse them of neglecting you. And this piety is impossible unless you detach the good and the bad from what is not up to us and attach it exclusively to what is up to us, because if you think that any of what is to up to us is good or bad, then when you fail to get what you want and fall into what you do not want, you will be bound to blame and hate those who cause this (Section 31)."

According to this, the best way to overcome pain and suffering, is by understanding there are things we can't control. We have to detach completely to what is not up to us, because that way, if something happens, we are not affected by it.

A logical answer, but at the same time, I don't agree with it. Detaching from the things that are not up to us includes understanding relatives will eventually die. Since we can't control death, and if we followed Epictetus' teachings, we would have to detach from those people, creating a more distant relationship.

What's the purpose of living if we have nothing to lose? We have to decide if happiness is worth the risk of losing it. If you decide to take the risk, I'm afraid there is no answer to why bad things will happen to you.

5 Steps To Becoming The Best Boyfriend/Girlfriend

1. Make sure your partner doesn't know about your affairs: if no one knows, it didn't happen.
2. Say I love you 100 times a day.
3. If your about to break up, stop drop and roll.
4. Never hit your partner with a rock. Avoid all violence.
5. Love is enough for the relationship to work.

Open Letter To Robert Frost By Epictetus

Mr. Robert Frost,

I read your poem "The Road Not Taken" and I believe we both agree that free will exists. The difference between you and I, is the life we were given. Your role in the play of life was the one of a Harvard student, who obtained immediate success in life. I, on the contrary, spent my youth as a slave. I later obtained my freedom and started teaching philosophy in Rome.

The conceptions we have of free will are quite different. I understand there are things that are up to us, and others that aren't. We should not spend time in the ones that are not up to us, because this will make us misfortunate beings. We don't decide what role to play in life but we do decide how well we play it. Free will consists of understanding what we can and can't control. Once you understand this, you may have the free will to decide how you act upon events.

You mention in your poem there are two roads we can take:

"TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both"

This disagrees with my philosophy. I believe choosing a road to walk in is not up to us. But we do have the free will to decide how we want to walk through the path we are given.

It is clear we have our differences when it comes to free will. You believe there is always a choice. According to your poem, the choices we make, lead us to new decisions:

"Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."

As I said before, we approach things differently because of our different life styles. Your philosophy is valid for your life, and my philosophy is valid for the life I lived.

It's always refreshing to read a different point of view from my own. I encourage you to read my Handbook and tell me what you believe. I'll keep reading your works and writing you letters with my opinion.

Sincerely,

Epictetus

(Information about Frost and Epictetus' lives from wikipedia.)

Conclusion Of Analytic Essay

We can now take a new position towards war. Slaughterhouse Five, shows us a different side than what we usually hear. We hear about the Frank Sinatras and John Waynes. The important thing is remembering Billy Pilgrims are also part of war. 

Rules From Sections 11-20

11. Nothing belongs to you.

"Never say, "I have lost it," but instead, "It was given back"" (PDF).

12. Tranquility has a price. Nothing is for free.

"It is better to die of hunger and distress than to live in the midst of plenty" (PDF).

13. You either are: in accordance with nature, or a materialistic person.

"Certainly it is not easy to be on guard both for one's choices to be in accord with nature and also for externals, and a person who concerns himself with one, will be bound to neglect the other" (PDF).

14. In order to obtain freedom, you have to avoid everything that is not up to you. If you want people to live forever, you are breaking rules one and eleven.

"You are foolish if you want your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, since you're wanting things to be up to you, that are not up to you, and things to be yours that are not yours" (PDF).

"Whoever wants to be free, therefore, let him not want or avoid anything that is up to others. Otherwise, he's a slave" (PDF).

15. Your behavior should be like the one in a banquet. Do not look for anything, but wait for it to come to you. When it does, don't keep it all to yourself. Do not go the easy way.

"Something is passed around and comes to you: reach out your hand politely and take some. It goes by: Do not hold it back. It has not arrived yet: do not stretch your desire towards it, but wait until it comes to you" (PDF).

"But if when things are set in front of you, do not take them but despise them (PDF).

16. When you see someone in grief, remind him: "What weighs down on this man is not what has happened to it (since it does not weigh down on someone else), but his judgment about it" (PDF).

Be ready to support them but do not grief for yourself.

17. What happens in you life, is not up to you. But you can choose how you handle it.

"Remember you are an actor in a play,which is as the playwright wants it to be: short if he wants it to be short, long if it wants it to be long" (PDF).

18. (I honestly don't know how to interpret this section. Any ideas, please comment.)

19. There can't be jealousy or envy in what is up to us. (e.g being the captain of the soccer team is not up to you, therefore there can be jealousy and envy. My opinion about this text is up to me, there can't be jealousy or envy within me.) Section nine-teen is reinforcing rules one, eleven and fourteen.

"You can be invincible if you do not enter any contest in which victory is not up to you" (PDF).

20. When a person is harmful to you, the person himself is not insulting. What's insulting is the judgment you have about what they are doing. Therefore, harm is in your own belief. (e.g if you are insulted by a homosexual, he himself is not insulting, the judgement you have about his situation is.)

Some Rules In The First Ten Sections

1. Differ from what is up to you and what isn't:

“Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possetions, our reputations, nor our public offices or that is, whatever is not our own doing.” (PDF).

“Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions- in short, whatever is our own doing.” (PDF).

2. Don't have any desire or aversion:

"None of the things that are up to us which it would be good to desire, will be available to you" (PDF).

"So detach your aversion from everything not up to us, and transfer it to what is against nature among the things that are up to us" (PDF).

3. Remember things break and people die:

"If you are fond of a jug say "I am fond of a jug!" For when it is broken, you will not be upset" (PDF).

"If you kiss your child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being; for when it dies you will not be upset" (PDF).

4. Remember what certain actions imply and try to keep your actions accord with nature:

"Oh well, I wanted not only this but also to keep my choices in accord with nature" (PDF).

5. Blame yourself before you blame others:

"What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgements about things."

"So when we are thwarted or upset or distressed, let us never blame someone else but rather ourselves" (PDF).

6. Only be joyful about your superiority:

What you should do: My hair is beautiful.

What you shouldn't do: My dog's hair is beautiful.

7. (Great metaphor) Set your priorities straight. Your duty goes first.

"If you are given a wife and a child instead of a vegetable and a shellfish, that will not hinder you; but if the captain calls, let all those things go and run to the boat without turning back (PDF). ( Captain referring to God?)

8. Do not expect things to happen in a certain way:

"Do not seek to have events as you want them to, but instead, want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well" (PDF).

9. Illness affects your body, not your choices:

"Lameness interferes with the limb, not with one's faculty of choice" (PDF).

10. If you were strong enough to go through your own birth, you have the capacity of going through any situation:

"At each thing that happens to you, remember to turn yourself and ask what capacity you have for dealing with it" (PDF).

"And if you become used to this, you will not be carried away by appearances" (PDF).

Things Break, People Die

Section three is pretty short, but at the same time pretty deep. It's just reminding us to know what things are. You can't expect an object to be a person, and you can't expect a person to be eternal. Make sure you know objects can break and people can die, that way, if it happens, you already expected it, so it's not that difficult. Wanting things and people to last forever is very selfish. The reason why we're sad when people die is because they are no longer in our lives. "If you kiss your child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being; for when it dies you will not be upset" (PDF). The same happens with objects. If we manage to detach from certain desires and aversions, as section two mentioned, then when people or objects are gone, it's easier to get over it.

Now, one thing is saying all this, another is having to live it. I'm sure I wouldn't apply what I just wrote if I lost a valuable thing or person in my life.

New Vocabulary Word

A new word I learned: aversion. It has showed up in several sections now.

Defenition: "Having a strong dislike of, or opposition to" (Apple Dictionary).

Example from text: “Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions- in short, whatever is our own doing.” (PDF).

Desires and aversions show up in sections one and two. It's important to know what they mean. Aversions are something common in my life and until now I didn't know how they were called.

I love this text.

What To Follow?

Difference between desire and aversion:

"What a desire proposes is that you get what you desire and what an aversion proposes is that you not fall into what you are averse to" (PDF).

In other words, when you have a desire, you want it to come true. When you have an aversion, you don't want it.

If you don't get what you want, you are unfortunate. If you get what you don't want, you are misfortunate.

Confusing... The words tangle up. You have to be very careful to understand this concept, but it makes sense. I have the feeling that the whole t: "things that are up to you and things that aren't", will always be present. I think that's why it was in the first chapter.

Epictetus also mentions nature a lot. The second section talks about the natural course of things. Death and illness are aversions to us. We desire to live free from them, but they will eventually come: "So detach your aversion from everything not up to us, and transfer it to what is against nature among the things that are up to us" (PDF). This is similar to the familiar saying: don't cry over spilled milk. You can't control the fact that the milk spilled. If you detach your aversion from the fact that it's already spilled, you can be unfortunate but not misfortunate.

Desires are normally just that, desires. There's no way to full-fill them. Therefore, it's better to not have have them.

Wait a second. I'm lost. This goes against everything we learn in school. Am I not suppose to desire anything? Let me go back to the whole "what is up to me" thing. For example, I want good grades:

It's something that's up to me and that I can control. But then it says, "none of the things that are up to us which it would be good to desire, will be available to you" (PDF). This is saying: either getting good grades is a bad desire, or it's not available. It's different from what we're taught but it's logical. If you don't look for anything, you won't be disappointed. Even though it makes sense, this idea can't survive in our world. We're taught that life's about taking opportunities and risks. The text encourages us not to follow desire but impulse. Today in ethics I was learning about not following impulses. This is a point in life when being critical is important. It's like deciding what news to believe, only here, I'm deciding what lesson I should apply in my life. I decide to apply this desire lesson in only the things I can't control. In other words, I decided to block aversions and only desire things that are up to me.

Way Too Deep

This text is so deep, I don’t know what to write about in my blog. It seriously overwhelms me. I already did my blog for tonight but I feel like writing about the whole thing, and make charts about everything. What is said can be applied to daily life, which makes the reader feel comfortable. It's the only text I can think about that I've enjoyed reading on Sharepoint.

The way it is written is different to what we've been working on. In previous classes, we've talked about wordiness and making concise sentences. "The Handbook of Epictetus" has long sentences with powerful content. You have to read sentence by sentence, extracting as much as you can from it.

It's certainly a breath of fresh air to read something this deep that can apply to life.

Wise Words From Epictetus: Paying Attention To Appearances

When faced with a hard appearance, say: "You are an appearance, and not at all the thing that has appearance." (PDF). Then, follow the charts below and decide if it is up to you or not. If it isn't, say to it: "You are nothing in relation to me" (PDF).

Charts:

Up to us	Not up to us	Proof
Opinion	Bodies	“Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions- in short, whatever is our own doing.” (PDF).
Impulses	Possessions	“Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possetions, our reputations, nor our public offices or that is, whatever is not our own doing.” (PDF).
Desires	Reputation	"The things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindered, not our own." (PDF).
Aversions	Public offices
Whatever we decide to do.	Whatever we haven’t done
	Considered weak, hindered, enslaved, not our own.

If...	Examples	Effects	Proof
You think things naturally enslaved are for free.	Forests are naturally enslaved. Cutting them to grow crops creates negative effects.	Blame men and gods.	“If you think that things naturally enslaved are for free or that things not your own are your own, you will be thwarted, misrable and upset, and will blame both gods and men. (PDF).
You think things that aren’t your own are your own	Bee hives, for example. You suffer the concequences if you touch them.
You think only what’s yours is yours.	Your body, your mind.	No one will ever threaten or make it difficult for you.	“If you think only what’s yours is yours, and that what is not your own, is just as it is, not your own, then no one will ever coerce you, no one will ever hinder you, you will blame no one, you will not accuse anyone, you will have no enemies, and no one will harm you, because you will not be harmed at all” (PDF).
You think what’s not your own isn’t your own	Animals	You will not blame or accuse anyone, have no enemies or accuse anyone.
		Receive no harm.

Goals	Advice	What will happen	Proof
Receive no harm.	Not take them moderately. (Going to the extremes?)	You will be happy and free.	“As you aim for such great goals, remember that you must not undertake them by acting moderately, but must let some things go completely and postpone others for the time being.” (PDF).
You will not blame or accuse anyone, have no enemies or accuse anyone.	Must let things happen and postpone others.	You will be focused on: not receiving harm, not blaming or accusing anyone, and having no enemies that you probably won’t be able to achieve a public office and wealth, nor accomplish the other goals either.	“If you want both these goals and also to hold public office and to be rich, then you may perhaps not get even the latter, because you aim and the former too; and you certainly will fail to get the former, which are the only things that yield freedom and happiness.” (PDF).
No one will ever threaten or make it difficult for you.	Not to do it	You will not be happy nor free.
Prior goals+ holding public office and be rich

To write this blog I used the first section of the text. I had never read something so deep. From only seven sentences, I got all the information posted above. Amazing, isn't it?

Ice Cream Is To Noodle Soup, As Poo-tee-weet Is To The End Of War

What's Wrong With This Picture?

The princess sings a melodious tune.

The birds join with a "poo-tee-weet."

"What a wonderful day", she exclaims oh, so sweet.

The sun is up high, it's mid-afternoon.

Bunnies hopping here and there,

Music and laughter everyhwere.

The "poo-tee-weet" fits right in, doesn't it? But, what does "poo-tee-weet" have to do in the end of a war book? Where does it fit in the picture? Here we go again, finding irony even in the last word of the novel. Imagine the sight: "The Second World War in Europe was over. Billy and the rest wandered out onto the shady street. The trees were leafing out. There was nothing going on out there, no traffic of any kind. There was only one vehicle, an abandoned wagon drawn by two horses." (PDF). And then, there's a bird saying "Poo-tee-weet?"

What does this "poo-tee-weet" mean? Outside of the novel, it's just a bird noise. In the story, it holds the whole point Vonnegut is trying to make.

After there's a war where people suffer and die, cities are destroyed, and lives are changed, birds remain the same. Having in mind the amount of irony Vonnegut uses, the poo-tee-weet is making fun of the situation. It's like the cold ice cream in the hot noodle soup. It simply isn't right.

In the beginning on the novel, Vonnegut says: "Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?'" (PDF). The question mark at the end gives the novel an inconclusive ending. It's like saying, "now what?"

Concluding, what Vonnegut is trying to get through, is that after war, everything changes except for birds. The "poo-tee-weet" is an ironic way of bringing joy to the quiet and sad image of war.

What Does Victory Bring?

Great. We won the war. We only lost 80% of our soldiers, but it's okay because we won. There are families who lost their relatives, but I repeat, we won. Most of the survivors are in mental hospitals, but we came out victorious. We won. We're happy.

It simply doesn't work like that. War can't bring happiness. Wars are fought to bring peace and justice. Regardless who is victorious, lives will be spared and people will suffer. How can a country be happy after a victory when it has lost so many lives? Billy is happy after the war is over: "He was happy. He was warm. There was food in the wagon, and wine-and a camera, and a stamp collection, and a stuffed owl, and a mantel clock that ran on changes of barometric pressure." (PDF). Then, the animals make him cry: "When Billy saw the condition of his means of transportation, he burst into tears. He hadn't cried about anything else in the war." (PDF).

Ironic, isn't it? He suffers, watches people die, is tortured, and the only thing that makes him cry, are some horses. This shows that even though he survived Dresden and came out victorious, he can't be fully happy about it. The coffin shaped wagon can represent that even tough they survived, people still died. If victory doesn't bring happiness, what does it bring? Why are wars fought, if no side will be happy in the end? They are fought because they have to be: "'It had to be done,' Rumfoord told Billy, speaking of the destruction of Dresden. 'I know,' said Billy. 'That's war.' 'I know. I'm not complaining.'" (PDF).

We were asked before if war was ever justifiable. I've always been an anti-war person myself, so my answer would immediately be a no. But some wars have changed things for good. The French Revolution is a great example. We can say it was victorious because it helped changed our system. In other words, as we learned last year from Confucius, wars are for the good (or bad) of the whole. The outcome of a war may bring satisfaction to a whole, but to an individual who lived it, it can bring pain. I always agreed that the good of the whole is better than the good of the individual, but I've changed my mind. In war, this doesn't apply. Differences can be solved by talking and discussing. Words are stronger weapons that guns. Ideas can bring both victory and happiness.

Great. We won the war. We didn't lose any of our people and we won. No family lost their relatives and I repeat, we won. We were all survivors and came out victorious. We won. We're happy. Can it work like that?

Time Heals All Wounds?

Chapter 7 is very important because it shows a change in Billy. It shows that he's aware that the war has an effect in his daily life. He remembers an event without time traveling: "Billy thought hard about the effect the quartet had had on him, and then found an association with an experience he had had long ago. He did not travel in time to the experience." (PDF)

Billy's focus will probably always be on war. After his experiences there, it's normal everything will remind him of Dresden. But the fact that he doesn't time travel and still remembers, suggest Billy is healing from his war experience.

When there's a life changing experience in your life, you usually compare everything to it. It usually appears everywhere. With my grandpa's cancer, I see articles and commercials about cancer everywhere. They were probably there before, but I didn't link them to anything. The same happens with Billy. He wouldn't have linked the Febs with war if he hadn't been in it. Hearing the Febs, made "His mouth fill with the taste of lemonade, and his face became grotesque, as though he really were being stretched on the torture engine called the rack." (PDF)

Will Billy be able to live a normal life after the war? I believe that with time, he'll live without being terribly affected by the war, just as he's leaving the time traveling behind.

He Knew He Was Crashing

In the beginning of chapter 7, Vonnegut tells us Billy knew the airplane was going to crash: "He knew he was going to crash, but he didn't want to make a fool of himself by saying so." (PDF)

"He didn't want to make a fool of himself by saying so." How crazy is that. If I knew I was going to be in an airplane crash, I would speak up. Why put my life and others in danger? Why does Billy keep quiet?

First Theory: Billy gives the impression that he doesn't want to live anymore. Until now, he has shown he doesn't care about the present or future. Ironically, he's the only one who survives: "His lips were working, and one of the golliwogs put his ear close to them to hear what might be his dying words. Billy thought the golliwog had something to do with the Second World War, and he whispered to him his address: 'Schlachthöf-funf.' " (PDF)

Second Theory:

BIlly simply learned death can't be taken seriously. After all, "so it goes." With death not being a big deal in life, there is no fear in riding a plane destined to crash.

Again, irony shows up. The person who takes death lightly and who knows the plane is going to crash, is the only one who survives.

A bigger question now arises. How does Billy know the plane will crash? This makes me wonder if his time travels are really true. How else could he know there would be an accident? Pure intuition?

Superior To Man

Earlier this semester, we saw the episode of "The Twilight Series", "To Serve Man." On my blog, I talked about how men always think they're superior to other beings. The extraterrestrial creatures in the episode prove them wrong. The men are confident that these creatures want to work for them when they actually want to serve them as a dish. We see a resemblance between these creatures and the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse Five.

In chapter five, the Tralfamadorians display Billy in a zoo, just as we do with animals. The guide in the zoo explains his behavior just as we do with other creatures: "He shaved and sprayed deodorant under his arms, while a zoo guide on a raised platform outside explained what Billy was doing-and why." (PDF) Irony is implied showing men as inferiors in comparison to other creatures. In both Slaughterhouse Five and "To Serve a Man", they make fun of humans feeling of superiority. In "To Serve Man", they use human language against them. In this chapter, the Tralfamadorians place Billy in a zoo. The whole idea of a zoo is having the power to cage another creature. At least Billy realizes the Tralfamadorians are in a sense, superior to him: "Somebody in the zoo crowd asked him through the lecturer what the most valuable thing he had learned on

Tralfamadore was so far, and Billy replied, 'How the inhabitants of a whole planet can live in peace I As you know, I am from a planet that has been engaged in senseless slaughter since the beginning of time." (PDF)

Now, not only can the Tralfamadorians compare to the creatures in "To Serve a Man". They are similar to the leavers. In Ishmael, we learned we (takers), have to start looking at leaver cultures as an example. The Tralfamadorians are also an example Billy recognizes he should follow.

It's great how Vonnegut transmits this in his irony and how he can make fun of his own race.

Things Just Are

The one T.V channel I can't stand is Disney Channel. Paraphrasing an excerpt on My Ishmael, humans are stuck between two kinds. They are superior to animals but inferior to angels. At least that's what most humans think, including the creators of Disney Channel. Disney stories highlight humans as superiors. "In The Little Mermaid", Ariel wants to be human. "In The Lady and the Tramp", living with men is the best thing that could happen to a dog. In one way or the other, humans are practically worshipped. This is scary, considering we heard all these stories when we were little. It's similar to what they do in A Brave New World when they brainwash kids at young age.

A few years ago, Disney Channel released a new series with the name "Why Me." It's about a girl who questions every bad thing that happens to her, as if someone had chosen her on purpose. I've seen this show, (not proud of it) and I can tell you the things that happen to her happen to absolutely everybody. She's a typical 10 year old girl, embarrassed of her parents and bothered by her older sister. Then of course, as almost every person in this world, she feels self pity.

There's an addicting webpage, fmylife.com where people post bad things that have happened to them. Under the post, you can click on two tabs. Either, "I agree your life is sucks" or, "you totally deserve it". Contradicting the show "Why Me?", this webpage shows bad things can happen to everyone. It's not like the universe conspires against you and is dedicated to make your life miserable.

It's amazing how unlucky we think we are. Why me, why me, we often ask ourselves. When Billy Pilgrim is taken by the Tralfamadorians, he asks this. They respond:"Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why." (PDF) Things happen just because. We're taught since a young age that things happen for a reason. For example, Lucy's parents might say: "You don't get cookies because you behaved badly." What if Lucy wasn't misbehaving? What if it was her sister? She'll automatically think, why me? These examples plus others shown by the media make self pity inevitable for us. We always think there's a reason why things happen.

"Why me? That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is." (PDF)

The next time you ask yourself, why me?, just remember there is no why.

Escaping In Time

We've all had moments where we wished to escape. Either at one in the morning, stuck doing an essay, or in class, taking a test we know nothing about. We've all felt that urge of stopping time and resting for a while. It would be great to take a nap and wake up knowing nothing has changed.

In a way, what Billy is doing when he's unstuck in time is basically daydreaming. We've all daydreamed before. The difference is we normally daydream of the future. Our imagination is the only one that can take us to wherever we want, whenever we want. If the present is too difficult to handle, the best solution is to fly to the future. We're not certain of what may happen, but at least we get to imagine it perfect.

Billy does the opposite. He goes back in time. Why go to the past when the future can be whatever you want it to be? Billy Pilgrim isn't hopeful about the future. Compared to the present, the past is paradise. He has given up on everything: "Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living." (PDF)

Yesterday my science egg broke. I was really angry at myself. I had to take care of it for 2 weeks and it didn't even last 3 days. I was determined to get a high grade. I know this isn't possible anymore. Things like this happen all the time. Getting unsatisfying grades, losing soccer games, fighting with friends are just examples. The way I manage to leave these things behind is thinking how much they weigh in my life. I think, in 10 years, will my 10th grade biology egg project have any effect? Of course it won't. This helps me understand it's not a big deal. What's done is done. Billy can't do this. On his office, he has a frame that says: "GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN, AND WISDOM ALWAYS TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE." (PDF) After that, the narrator tells us: "Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present and the future." (PDF) I understand why he can't change the past and present, but the future may vary. This shows he completely gave up. He's practically not living. He's surviving. With no hope left in the future, all he can do is find shelter in the past.

On David Crystal

On the blog, "On studying history/History", David Crystal states that fashion rules over correct grammar usage: "

For the past few years there's been a noticeable trend towards graphical simplicity - B.B.C. becoming BBC, and the like - and capitals have been affected."

As time passes, languages change. Words are left in the past, and new words are created. This creates confusion between generations. Older generations tend to blame new ones for corrupting the language. Hearing this from our grandparents makes us jump to conclusions that aren't correct. We get surprised when we see bad words in old books, thinking people didn't curse in that time. I remember the one time I heard my grandfather say a bad word. I asked him, "grandpa, how do you know that word?" He responded, "my generation practically created it." His parents and his grandparents probably knew that word too, and he probably fell in the same mistake I did.

Since language constantly changes with time, misunderstandings always arise. This is inevitable. After all, as David Crystal

says, "fashion always rules."

Rene Magritte: The Surrealist Belgian Artist

This is not a pipe.

Afterlife Is To Tralfamadorians

According to the atheist group in America, The Great Realization, 82% of Americans believe in afterlife. In last year's english course we were asked why bad things happened to good people. For some, this question is tied with believing in life after death.

You're probably wondering what afterlife has to do with Slaughterhouse-Five. I'm not focusing on the theory itself but on why people believe it.

Believing in heaven or hell makes death easier to handle. It's the same reason why there's God. Both things bring comfort and hope. Believing in afterlife is trusting there will be a judge trial at the end.

Accepting the fact that bad and unfair things happen is normal. There are people that believe being good will pay off and being bad will have consequences.

Focusing on some things we've seen in class so far, what if there was a utopia? Would the need of a God and an afterlife be necessary? I believe it wouldn't. God fills the space the system hasn't been able to fill. If people were satisfied with the justice system while they're alive, one after dying wouldn't be necessary.

Going back to Slaughterhouse-Five, the Tralfamadorians Billy creates in his head, are similar to our beliefs in life after death. These martian like creatures are his way to cope with the many deaths and difficult times he has experienced. Every time the story has to do with death, that sentence is followed by a: "so it goes". Billy learned this line from the Tralfamadorians: "I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is "so it goes." (PDF file) Sometimes, things are so hard to handle, that we have to create a fantasy that makes reality worth living. In Billy's case, death practically hunted him down. This is no surprise, considering the fact he was a preacher in the war. Many of the people he knew died, including his father. The Tralfamadorians provided support in death. " The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral". (PDF file)

With this new way of looking at death, Billy wasn't vulnerable to it anymore. It's like believing in heaven and hell. Believing we go somewhere better after we die is a comforting statement. Billy learned the past, present and future can be combined. And that the three of them are everlasting. "It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one

moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it

is gone forever." (PDF file)

Everyone has a different way of coping with things. Billy coped with death by following the Tralfamadorians' way of thinking. He created a reality different from everyone else's, and it's totally understandable. I believe in making your own reality, but it's a very coward thing to do. If we all create our own way of getting over difficult situations, then we no longer have to strive for a better life. We just have to create a new one. But, why give up? Why wait for justice after life if we can create it now?

Fear Of Time

The reason why we fear time, is because with it, comes change. We're scared of forgetting past memories and events. We're afraid they might happen again, or afraid they might never come back. O'Hare's wife, Mary, tells our protagonist: "You were just babies in the war-like the ones upstairs!.. 'But you're not going to write it that way, are you... You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra

and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them". (Slaughter House Five) In this case, Mary is afraid the past will be disturbed. No wonder the main character can't finish his book. As time passes, not only do his memories fade, his way of looking at things changes. It's not the same to live something at one age, and to write about it in another.

The past is easy to fear. Many fear death solely because they know they'll become part of the past, and in a few years, will be forgotten. Others, like me, fear what happens to the protagonist. With age, he starts forgetting important people and events in his life: "I have become an old fart with his memories and his Pall Malls, with his sons full grown". (Slaughter House Five) Forgetting the past implies you never lived it.

The problem with the present is knowing when it starts and when it ends. Sometimes, we think the past is the present, and get caught up in things that already happened. It can also go the other way around. Our future may become our present, making us live for the unreachable. The protagonist has a clear problem with living in the present. He brings up the Dresden war in several occasions. He also mentions a couple of things twice. At the beginning of chapter 1, he says, "One guy

I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his." (Slaughter House Five) Later on, he mentions: "... And then this one American foot soldier is arrested in the ruins for taking a teapot." (Slaughter House Five) Does the character emphasize on these particular things for any reason? Or, does he have trouble remembering what he has written and what he hasn't? It seems he's caught up in the past, and the reason is Dresden. He still thinks about the present though: "And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep." (Slaughter House Five)

The first chapter doesn't mention the future that much. I guess the future is so scary, we prefer to look behind us. It's easier to stick to what you know, than to adapt to new changes. The first chapter captures this perfectly with the pillar of salt example: "But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. She was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes. People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore. I've finished my war book now." (Slaughter House Five) It looks like he's finally ready to live in the present. This books seems to be the end of his past.